4S Designs Knit BD Shirt Animal

An animal print on a knit behaves differently from an animal print on a woven, and it is worth understanding why before deciding whether you want one. A woven surface is flat and stable, so a print laid on it stays where it is put and reads as a graphic. A knit surface is looped, so it has a texture of its own that the print has to negotiate, and the result is softer at the edges: the pattern breaks up into the loops instead of sitting on top of them, and the whole thing reads as a cloth rather than as an image. That is the entire reason to want this version of it. It is one hundred percent cotton, knitted, with a button-down front, so it is a shirt in its details and a knit in everything it actually does: it gives at the shoulder, it does not crease, and it recovers.

Why we selected it

An animal print is very easy to buy badly and the reason is almost always the cloth, which is usually a slick woven that makes the pattern shout. On a soft knit it stops shouting.

The house builds a print into a cloth rather than onto it wherever it can, and a knitted animal print is the softest version of that in the collection.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent cotton, knitted. Made in Italy. Button-down front. Color: Animal Print.

Fit notes

Sized M and L. A knit shirt sits closer than a woven one and moves with the body, so it layers under a jacket without bunching at the arm. Cotton knits give across a day and return with washing.

Styling

Under the PL Bar Blazer or the Dolaman Cardigan/Coat, both of which will contain the print rather than compete with it. With the H. Sartorial Pant or the Triple Pleat Pant, both black. Not with the Work Shirt – Tweed or the P. Short.

Care

Cotton governs. Wash cool and gently, then dry flat rather than on a hanger, because a cotton knit lengthens at the shoulder under its own wet weight. Press on the reverse, and print side down. Our care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The Knit BD Shirt Western is knitted in cotton too, with its detailing worked into the garment rather than into the pattern. Everything we carry from 4S Designs is listed together.